Three Days
by Neneithel
Summary: When Steele overhears Laura's phone call with Murphy, he thinks she is talking about him and that he has three days to change her opinion of him.


_**Three Days.**_

Laura.

It was always good to talk to Murphy and Laura listened happily to news of a few cases that had come his way. "You're doing well." she said.

"I get by." he replied, "How about you? Did you ever get paid by that Garner guy?"

"No, not yet. He still keeps expecting us to do more work on his case. He went on for ages last time about how this fraud was two and a half years of lies and deceit and he wanted evidence."

"You can't keep giving him more time."

"I'm not. I won't put up with it anymore. I've decided, Murph, he has three days. After that, he can take his 'two and a half years of lies and deceit' and ... well, they'll be someone else's problem, not mine, and I wish the best of luck to whatever idiot takes him on."

"Good for you!" said Murphy.

"No more excuses. Nothing is worth this much trouble."

Steele.

Steele leant over Mildred's desk. "Why don't you go home, Mildred? Put your feet up." he suggested brightly.

She beamed at him. "Miss Holt's still here, Boss."

"I was hoping she would be. Maybe I'll see if she'd like to go somewhere tonight."

He went to the door of her office and heard, "I won't put up with it anymore. I've decided, Murph, he has three days. After that, he can take his 'two and a half years of lies and deceit' and ... well, they'll be someone else's problem, not mine, and I wish the best of luck to whatever idiot takes him on."

He stepped back, stunned at what he'd just heard. Mildred was putting on her coat. "I'll see you tomorrow." she said.

"Yes." he said, moving nearer to the door.

"No more excuses. Nothing is worth this much trouble." said Laura inside.

He went to the door of his own office. "Three days? I get three bloody days! After three years! Although apparently only two and a half were memorable enough to register. What does she expect me to do in three days?"

"Boss?" said Mildred, looking concerned.

He looked around and said, "Sorry, Mildred, preoccupied. You hurry off home."

"Aren't you gonna ask Miss Holt?"

"No, because Miss Holt will say no. Besides, if I only have three days, I'm going to need more than dinner and a movie."

"Three days, Mr Steele?"

"Apparently, that's all I'm worth."

"You want me to talk to her?"

"No. Go home, enjoy your evening. No point in both of us trying to reason with the unreasonable."

When she had gone, he went into his office, slammed the door behind him and called the only person he could think of who might have useful advice.

Laura.

Laura heard the door slam and went to see what was wrong. She was about to knock when she heard him say, "That's right, Daniel, three days then 'Goodbye, Remington Steele!' Time for one last, supreme effort."

She went back to her desk and scowled. "The rat! The louse! I can't believe he'd leave now! In three days?" It was obvious to her what the supreme effort would be, one last attempt to get her into bed, just before he flew off to Europe. "Three days?" she said, sitting on her desk.

She heard his door open and close and she went out to meet him. "Going home?" she said.

"Yes." he said.

"Goodnight, then."

He frowned at her, as if saying goodnight were a breach of etiquette. "Goodnight." he said.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, "Is there something you want to say?"

"At this precise moment, nothing comes to mind. Was there anything you wanted to mention?"

"Not that I can think of." she said.

"Good. That seems to be all, then." He left.

Muttering, "Cold-blooded rat!" Laura went to get her coat.

The next morning, Laura was just going into her office when Steele came out of his. "Good morning!" he said.

"You're early." she said.

"I take my responsibilities here seriously." he said.

"For how long?"

He frowned and said, with some inexplicable bitterness, "Oh, about three years."

"Until something more interesting comes up." she said.

"Ha!" he said.

"What does that mean?"

"It means precisely nothing." he said, "Like everything else I say and do."

"What's wrong with you?" she said.

"I'm sure, if you find time to consider it, you'll come up with a long list." he said. He went into his office.

Laura went into hers and wondered if she should have just asked directly why he was leaving.

Steele.

"Impossible woman!" said Steele, "Doesn't even tell me I've only got three days." He sat behind the desk. What could he do in three days? He wasn't even sure what she wanted. A commitment, probably.

"Why should I allow myself to be backed into a corner like that?" he said, "Why should I have to make a commitment I'm not ready for just to please a woman who won't even be honest with me about where I stand?" That little flame of defiance flickered and died as he thought of losing everything in a few days.

If she wanted promises, he could give her a dozen and mean none. There had been times when the words had come so lightly from his lips and beautiful women had believed or disbelieved as they saw fit. He'd made the mistake with Laura of assuming she'd prefer the truth. He didn't want to lie to her, he realised. That worried him. At a time like this, he desperately needed to be the one who could say anything he had to say and be believed. If he wanted to keep Laura, he would have to convince her he was ready, willing and able to make a real commitment. How to wriggle out of it was a worry for later. Every time he thought about it, though, he felt a strong reluctance to say anything he didn't mean. He was unarmed in this fight, because the one weapon he had, he was choosing not to use.

"Now is no time to develop a conscience." he said to himself.

Laura.

Laura was going over the events of the past few weeks in her mind, trying to work out if she had done something that might have made him decide to leave. If the problem could be narrowed down to either her fault or some hangover from his past (and Daniel was clearly a prime suspect there) she would at least know how to try to keep hold of him.

"Maybe I should just let him go." she said into her coffee cup, "If he doesn't want to be here, what's the point?" She thought of him going back to his old life, probably to Felicia. He'd soon forget boring Laura. As for her, she'd survive. She always got left, she always survived.

Then she got angry. She'd worked hard. She'd accepted the gaping gaps in his past, the slow release of information that never quite satisfied her curiosity or her fears. She'd supported him when anyone else would have just shown him the door. She'd invested three years of her life in him and now he planned to just walk out of it without a backward glance.

"Not this time, buster!" she said.

She heard his voice at the door. It sounded oddly strangled. "Laura, I just want to say ... I don't really know what I want to say, but please listen anyway. You and I make a great team. I mean, leaving aside all the confusion and the somewhat nebulous nature of our personal relationship, we're good together. Your brilliance, my moments of inspiration, your tenacity, my talents. We've dealt with some demanding cases, over the years. Three years, by the way."

She didn't answer. If he thought he was going to flatter her into his bed anytime in the next three days, he was wrong.

He went on, "Laura, I know I've sometimes been ..." He fell silent. He was quiet for so long she almost thought he'd gone, then he went on, "Well, I've probably been everything you ever accused me of being." His voice became quieter, almost plaintive. "I could make excuses, some of them good ones, but an apology is probably more important right now. I'm sorry, Laura, truly sorry." He was quiet again.

Laura glared at the door. Did he really think she'd fall for that? She reluctantly admitted to herself that she might have, had she not known he planned to leave.

"Laura?" he said.

The door opened a crack. She tried to make her face neutral, but there was no need. He closed it again quickly and went away.

Steele.

Steele knew he should have gone through the door. He could be very persuasive, face to face and she might have found it hard not to tell him about the three days when she was looking into his eyes. If it could be brought out into the open, he could find out what it was she wanted.

He was angry with himself for not having the courage to face her. As he opened the door, he had imagined how she would look at him, with eyes that told him there was no time left and that she didn't want him around anymore.

It didn't help that his mind kept replaying the words "two and a half years of lies". Leaving aside the fact that she'd forgotten half a year, that seemed to mean she believed he'd lied about everything. All those times when he had taken a chance and told her the truth, she hadn't believed him, or had, but didn't now.

Mildred came over and offered him a cup of coffee. "You look terrible."

"It seems I am." he said, "It's not fair, though, is it, giving me three days and then hiding from me?"

"Three days? To do what?"

"Well, that's the question, isn't it? What does she want?"

"It can't be that bad, can it? You were fine until last night."

"I thought so, but it sounds as if I've been letting her down for a very long time."

"Maybe if you just talked honestly to each other ..."

He shook his head. "Miss Holt thinks I'm incapable of honesty. She thinks I've been lying to her for two and a half years. That's a difficult idea to overthrow in three days."

"But you and she ..." Mildred began, getting upset.

He put his arm around her. "Mildred, don't let this distress you. This was never going to work. We're too different."

"Or too alike." she said.

He frowned, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if she's hiding, so are you. Go in there! Use those blue eyes of yours!"

"It's no good." he said.

"You've never been a coward before." she said.

He smiled sadly. "All my life, Mildred. Every day of it."

"And she's not worth the effort?"

"Neither honesty nor courage will help me now." he said. A thought occurred and he brightened up. "On the other hand, the kind of underhanded cheating I'm best at could give me a chance."

"I really don't think you're going to convince her she can trust you by doing something dishonest." said Mildred.

"I've played by her rules for three years. Look where it got me. Find me a client who might conceivably want to see both of us together. She can't escape from me in a moving car."

"Are you sure this is wise?" asked Mildred.

"The wisest thing would be to forget I ever met her." he said.

Laura.

Steele knocked on Laura's door. "Laura, Mr Harlow wants to see us."

"What about?"

"About the case, I assume. Are you coming, or should I make some excuse for you?"

She opened the door. He looked as if he were in pain. She hoped it was a sign of regret that he was leaving her. "Something wrong?" she asked.

He sighed and shook his head. "Everything's wonderful, Laura. Why wouldn't it be?"

"Good. Let's go." she said.

They reached the car and got in. As Fred started to drive, Steele turned to her and said, "Laura, I have been honest with you."

"Really?" she said. She felt her anger rising. He dared to say that when he probably already had an airline ticket in his pocket?

"More than with anyone else. I've always tried to be."

"Why? Did that seem like the best way to get me into the sack?"

"Laura, there's more to us than that!"

"Are you going to start making long-term promises?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I did. Is that what you want? A ring on your finger? Or just one through my nose?"

"You don't care what I want."

"This isn't fair!" he said, "I know in your mind, it seems fair, but it isn't. I deserve more than this kangaroo court! Nobody has ever had three years of my life, but there are people who, for a month of it, would give me more than you have."

"Then go to them!" she said, "I certainly have no claim on you."

He looked out and said, "Go right, up ahead, Fred."

"We're going to see Mr Harlow." she said.

"No, that was a lie. I thought we should talk."

"Stop the car, Fred." she said.

"Keep going." said Steele, "Right turn."

"Stop." said Laura.

"Could you toss a coin or something?" said Fred.

"Just stop!" said Laura.

Fred shrugged and pulled over. "Sorry, Mr Steele, she's the boss."

Laura turned to Steele. "You thought we should talk? Why didn't you think that before?"

"Because I didn't think before."

"And what do you want to talk about?"

"Us. Isn't that what I'm supposed to do?"

"So you're going to remind me of all the happy times we've had together and of the great team we make and then you're going to assure me you respect me as a detective and then you're going to hope that I fall into your arms without hesitation?"

"No. Right now, that would only make things worse."

"At least we can agree on that."

"What's gone wrong between us, Laura?" he said. He looked desolate.

She fought an urge to kiss him. She concentrated on her anger. He was trying to manipulate her. Two days from now he'd be sitting with Daniel, bragging of his conquest. "Everything." she said, "And it's my fault. I was too quick to believe the things you said. You can't help what you are."

"What am I?" he said.

"You're you." she replied.

"And that's unforgivable?

"I forgive you for everything. I was wrong to expect you to change."

"I have changed." he said.

"Fred, take us back." she said.

"You can't spare me time to discuss this?" asked Steele.

"Is there anything to discuss?" she asked. He looked down and sighed.

Steele.

The first day was over and Steele felt like the whole thing was over. She wasn't giving him a chance. Usually distressingly eloquent on whatever he had done to offend her, she was now keeping very quiet. She still hadn't mentioned to him that his future hung in the balance. He sat in his apartment and wondered what he could do to change a mind that seemed already made up.

Every strategy that came to him had too much chance to backfire. After her hostility in the car, he had no faith in his ability to prevent another catastrophic argument. He went over to the phone. Maybe he could call her. Maybe hearing the sound of her voice would focus his mind enough to say the right thing. There had to be a right thing to say. There had to be a way out of this disaster.

Of course, talking to her could also mean that he stopped thinking clearly and said something stupid. The way he was feeling it could be anything from, "Goodbye" to "I love you." Neither would help.

He picked up the phone anyway and dialled her number. She took a while to answer. Finally he heard her voice. "Hello? Laura Holt."

He froze. Not only did he not have the right words, he was having trouble remembering any words.

"Hello?" she said.

He tried, but no words came, just the certainty that if he spoke now, whatever he said would be the last thing he would ever have the chance to say to her.

"Steele?" she asked.

He put the phone down and grabbed his coat. He'd tried the mature, intelligent approach. Now every instinct told him to run away from the problem. Running away had always been easier. He went to a bar and pretended he was Richard Blaine.

Laura.

Laura had hoped he would call, but when the phone rang, she almost didn't pick it up. He was unlikely to want to discuss his imminent departure. Maybe in a fit of guilt he'd call her to say goodbye. Since she had no intention of begging him to stay, it seemed stupid to talk to him.

The phone kept ringing, though. She wanted to hear his voice. She picked it up and there was silence. When she said his name, he put the phone down. "Coward!" she said. An hour later, she tried calling him, but he wasn't answering.

She went to bed but ended up lying awake, waiting for the phone to ring. In the morning, she half expected him not to turn up, but he was in the office before her. Mildred gestured to his door. "Miss Holt, I don't know what's happened, but I hate seeing him like this."

"I don't think either of us will have to see him like this much longer." said Laura.

"I hope not. He's a good guy, Miss Holt. He says the wrong thing sometimes, but he really does care."

"Not for me, Mildred." said Laura.

"You wouldn't say that if you saw how he was yesterday."

"Well, Mr Steele can appear ..." she stopped as he came out of his office.

"Good morning." he said. He looked exhausted.

"Did you call me last night?" she asked.

"No." he said, but she knew he was lying.

Mildred seemed to as well. She threw up her hands and left the room.

"Is there something you wanted to say?" asked Laura, praying it wouldn't be goodbye.

"Oh, I get a chance to guess the magic words, do I?" he said, "Nice of you to make that small concession. Do I get a clue too?"

"Don't you think this is a bit unreasonable? You haven't said a civil word to me in the past twenty-four hours."

"Or an honest one in the past three years?" he said.

"Have you been drinking?" she said.

"Drowning, Laura." he said. He didn't seem drunk, he seemed to be on the brink of some personal abyss and, for some reason, seemed to blame her.

She took his arm and led him into her office. "You look tired."

"So do you." he said. He glanced at the door, as if calculating how fast he could be through it.

"If there's something on your mind ..."

"Why should there be? I'm Remington Steele! For now, anyway."

"And I made you Remington Steele! You owe me an explanation."

"For what? For trying to fit your impossible template? For sometimes making mistakes? Because you never make a mistake, do you?"

"Just one big one!" she said, getting angry.

"Then rectify it!" he said bitterly.

They looked at each other, both fuming. Laura could see she'd only made him more determined to leave. Tears filled her eyes.

"Don't cry." he said, "That's unfair. Shout all you like, but don't cry."

She wiped her eyes. "You're not worth crying over."

"No, I'm not." he said.

"I wish we'd never met."

"So do I, with all my heart." he said. He turned and walked to the door, turning back briefly to say, "Goodbye, Miss Holt."

"Goodbye, whoever you are." she said.

Steele.

Steele found Mildred outside the door. "Good or bad?" she asked.

"Fatal." he said. He took her hand and kissed it. "You're one in a million, dear, wonderful Mildred. Take care of her."

"You're going?" she said.

He nodded. "Tomorrow."

"This is terrible! I thought, if I left you together, you'd be fine. What happened?"

"I'm sure Miss Holt can explain better than I can. I have a flight to book, excuse me."

"You're just giving in? Don't you still have one day?" said Mildred.

"A friend of mine once said, 'Never play a game you can't afford to lose.' Wise words. I wish I'd listened." He looked back at the door to Laura's office. "Mildred, there's one last thing you can do for me." He snatched a piece of paper from her desk and wrote quickly. "When I've been gone a week, give this to Miss Holt." He sealed it into an envelope and put it into her hand. He felt uneasy doing that, putting anything in writing, but he trusted Mildred to leave it a week, by which time, he would have settled into life under a different name. It couldn't hurt him then if he left Laura that brief declaration to reassure her that he hadn't been entirely a mistake.

Laura.

As soon as the confusing, irrational, unreasonable and infinitely troublesome Mr Steele was out of her office, Laura started to think things through.

For a while, they had been a good team. In fact, had it not been for the strong attraction between them and the way it shook them both and that something that was growing between them and that was starting to feel a lot like love, then the whole Remington Steele thing could have worked.

On the other hand, had it not been for the fact that the agency and all she had worked for depended on this partnership, she could have allowed herself to take a few more chances in the other side of their relationship and maybe not every argument would be driven to the point of fury by undercurrents she was afraid to acknowledge.

He'd been right, when he said that, "leaving aside all the confusion" they had been a good team. In a moment of treacherous honesty, somewhere in a corner of her mind, a thought suggested that maybe the fact that he was right was one of the many things pouring fuel on her anger.

She was right to be angry that he was leaving, right too to be furious at the way he had decided to do it, giving her no warning. She could probably justify sulking angrily about it until the object of her anger was sitting on some distant beach planning how to lay his hands on the next free lunch.

Anger, though, wouldn't bring him back. Neither would being in the right. He was behaving unfairly, but he could afford to. All he would lose was Laura Holt, and she probably didn't mean that much to him anyway. She was about to lose the head of the agency, someone she had considered a very good friend and the man she could potentially settle down with, assuming she could ever get him to understand the concept. For all the attractions of a really good sulk, it was best to leave such indulgences until she had tried and failed to keep hold of him.

She left the office, hoping to find him still there. Mildred looked up sadly. "He's going tomorrow. He's gone to book a flight."

For a moment she was angry that he'd told Mildred first, but then she realised that it was actually the best sign so far. At least he showed some signs of loyalty, even if it were to Mildred and not to her.

"Is he coming back?" she asked, "Did he say he'd be back here?"

"No." said Mildred, "What can we do?"

"Give him time to book a flight, then call the airport and cancel."

"Right." said Mildred, "What will you do?"

"Find out what it is he won't tell me and what it would take to make him stay."

Steele.

Steele stayed in his apartment long enough to book a flight to France for the next day, then he got out. Everything in the apartment belonged to Steele, and Steele was no longer part of his life. He didn't want to be there if Laura might turn up. She hadn't told him yet that he had to leave and he didn't want to have that conversation. He just started walking.

His feet, knowing what he needed more than his head did, led him to a dark place where he could stare at a screen for a few hours. He let the movie fill his mind with other thoughts and in the darkness he pretended he didn't exist, at least as Remington Steele.

Eventually, he had to go back to the apartment. Laura wasn't there, although she seemed to be there in everything. He went to the kitchen and was just wondering whether he had the energy or the inclination to eat something when the phone rang. He picked it up and was about to say, "Steele here." when he realised he wasn't Steele. "Hello?" he said.

"Boss? Is that you?" He was relieved and disappointed to hear Mildred's voice.

"It's me." he said, "What can I do for you?"

"Well, you could stay."

"Quite impossible. Believe me, this isn't my choice."

"We've been calling for hours." That "we" made all the difference. It suggested Laura and Mildred were of one mind. Maybe Laura had decided to give him another chance.

"Where's Laura?" he said.

"Out looking for you." said Mildred, "Oh, somebody decided to cancel your flight. Want me to rebook?" She sounded challenging. He got the feeling she was daring him to run away.

"No." he said.

"Good, because I wouldn't."

"Mutiny, Mildred?"

"If that plane leaves the ground and you're on it, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life."

"Misquoting Casablanca is worse than mutiny, Mildred." said Steele.

"So fire me!" she said, "I'll still be right."

Laura.

Laura finally had to stop looking and go home. As soon as she got in, she called Mildred. "Anything?" she asked.

"He's at his place. I was just thinking of going there, make sure he doesn't get away."

"No, leave that to me." said Laura.

"He says leaving isn't his choice. I think he thinks you want him to go."

"Because I yelled at him in the office?"

"I don't know."

Laura tried calling Steele next. There was no answer. "Please, be there!" she said. Nothing. She put down the phone and turned, intending to hurry over there. Instead, she found herself face to face with Steele.

"Is here any good?" he asked.

"Better than on a flight." she said.

"A few more days would have helped, or knowing the rules." said Steele.

"I've looked everywhere. I've broken my shoe." said Laura. She looked at him, wondering what he was talking about. "What rules?"

"Well, exactly."

They looked at each other and Laura wanted to grab him by the throat and shake him until he told her what was going on and she wanted to hug him until he stopped looking at her with that look of desperate confusion. In the end, she gave up and said, "Don't leave!"

At the same moment, he said, "Don't end this!"

They stared at each other. Then he said, "I heard you say I had three days or I was out."

"I never said that. I never would say that." she said.

"I heard you say it." he said.

"You told Daniel you were giving up being Remington Steele."

"I didn't. I told him I wanted to make one last effort to stay."

"Nobody was asking you to go!" said Laura. She realised she was raising her voice and struggled to control herself.

"You told Murphy I had three days."

She thought back to her chat with Murphy. "Oh."

"Are you claiming to have forgotten?" he asked.

"What made you think I meant you?"

"Years of lies and deceit? There was no-one else you could mean."

"You've put me through two days of Hell because you thought I was talking about you?"

"Laura, try to imagine what it's been like for me."

"You didn't want to go?"

"I hated the idea. I hated the idea that you wanted me to go."

"I didn't. I was talking about Garner paying his bill."

"What about the two and a half years of deceit?"

She stroked his cheek. "Mr Steele, we've been together three years."

"You didn't believe me when I said I'd been honest with you."

"You said it after telling Daniel you were leaving."

"I was asking Daniel for advice on how to convince you to let me stay."

She patted his chest. Let's recap. You don't want to leave and head off to a life of crime in Europe?"

"Not in the least."

"And I don't want you to go. In fact, the last couple of days have been terrifying, because I couldn't think of anything to say to stop you. So, in fact, we both agree that you belong here, as Remington Steele."

"Then why have we spent two days tearing each other to shreds?" said Steele.

"I don't know." she admitted.

"Sheer stupidity has to be in the running."

"Maybe we just can't be rational when something so important to us is threatened."

He smiled. "Oh, I like your explanation much better."

"So, you're staying, right? Because, if you still plan to leave, I'm going to make Mildred stand guard over you."

"Sorry about the shoes." he said.

"Answer the question!" she said.

"I never wanted to leave." he said.

"Just say that you'll stay."

"Say that you want me to."

"You know I do."

"Good. The idea of begging didn't appeal, but I'd have done it if I had to."

"Me too."

"Really?" he said.

"You're a wreck, Mr Steele."

"It's been a tough few days."

"Go home and sleep. I'll tell Mildred all is well."

He kissed her cheek. "You're hostile when you're scared, aren't you?"

"That's right. So don't scare me like that again."

The End


End file.
